Bill Murray

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Bill Murray

Date Of Birth

Biography

Born William James Murray on September 21, 1950 in Wilmette, Illinois, Bill Murray is a multi-awarded comedic actor who is also know for taking on dramatic roles as well.

Murray is the fifth of nine children, the son of a mail room clerk and a lumber salesman. He was born and raised in suburban Chicago in an Irish Catholic household. Short of money, Murray’s mother pressured the children to get jobs. As a child, he read biographies for children of American heroes, such as Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickoy, and Davy Crockett. He attended a Catholic High School and had to work as a caddy to pay for his tuition. He grew up in a difficult family environment, his father contracting diabetes and one of his sisters, polio. During high school, he was the lead singer of a rock band. He went to Regis University in Denver, Colorado, but later dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession.

Bill Murray got his head start in acting via his brother’s invitation to study acting under Del Close in Chicago. In 1975, he moved to New York City and was recruited by john Belushi as a featured player on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. An Off Broadway version of this show earned him his first television role on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. This show lasted just once last season with NBC starting up with a variety show called Saturday Night. He joined the cast in 1976.

Murray bagged his first film in 1979 with Meatballs. It would be followed by a string of box office hits, such as Where the Buffalo Roam, Caddyshack, Stripes, Tootsie, and Ghostbusters, the highest-grossing film of 1984. After a long break, Murray starred in even more films, such as Wild Things, Hamlet, The Royal Tenenbaums, and the hugely successful Lost in Translation, for which he earned a Golden Globe award and an Academy Award nomination.